Christmas Celebrations

The Christmas season always seems to be so busy in our house!  Between Michigan Thanksgiving, Bryn's birthday, an out of town wedding, Brian's birthday, a Christmas party, and visiting a few of the theme parks...not to mention Christmas itself, we've just been busy!

 Brian's birthday is December 17 and we had tickets to a Magic game.  Brian 

mentioned his birthday to our ticket rep and she upgraded us to (almost) courtside 

seats!  Orlando won and Brian said that it was one of the best birthday presents 

he has gotten...I didn't even take offense to that :)

My parent's subdivision has Santa drive through on a firetruck.  We went there 

to wave to Santa before walking down the block to a street party.  Bryn 

was excited when she heard the  sirens!

 Jumping up and down!

Hi Santa!

We have Fun Passes to Sea World and decided to make our last visit before we 

have to get new ones in 2013.  Bryn's favorite thing is the Sesame Street shows,

 but she was excited to see Shamu and give him a high five!

 They have a Polar Express ride, which we didn't take, but Bryn loved the train!

All the Christmas trees in the lake are lit and change to the music!

 Just before Christmas we decided to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Bryn was excited to see Mickey...until we got up close!

 After doing a few kid shows and rides, we headed to dinner and 

then to see the Osbourne Family light show.  It was cold and a 

great way to bring out the holiday spirit!

We also headed to Gaylord Palms Hotel to see the ICE exhibit.  Each year they 

pick a different theme and this year was Madagascar.  They created a short 

video to incorporate the characters and Santa.  The ice sculptures were amazing,

 and Bryn didn't complain once about it being only 9 degrees!

 All bundled up!

The nativity scene at the end was absolutely beautiful.  

Christmas morning was the most fun it has been in a long time!  Bryn still didn't quite 

know what she was getting into with this whole "Santa" business, but she was excited!  

She was up Christmas Eve until 11pm, due to a late mass at church (which I thought

 she'd sleep though), so we got to sleep in until 9!

 Exploring her stocking

 Helping Dad with his stocking

Christmas 2012

 Unwrapping her big gift, a trampoline!

 Unwrapping was fun!

 She enjoyed helping everyone unwrap!

 Santa also brought her a bitty baby highchair, but she is confused and likes to 

sit in it herself...maybe if her butt was a little bigger, she wouldn't be so confused

 as to what is for her and what is for a doll!

 After we were finished with Santa's gifts, my family came over for breakfast and to exchange gifts with us.  Bryn enjoyed showing them everything and helping to unwrap more!  Later that night we went to Brian's family for dinner.  It was a great day!  We hope everyone has the same feeling about their day!

Bryn turns 2!

Bryn had her 2nd birthday on November 30th.  Bryn was very excited about 

her "Happy to You" day!  She woke up  in a great mood and it continued 

when she was surprised with 2 balloons in her bedroom and doughnuts 

for breakfast.  We played outside and around the house before going to

 MyGym in the afternoon.  Then we celebrated with dinner with family.

 Our kitchen countdown sign helped Bryn understand when her "Happy to You" was coming.

Bryn's Dora, Diego, and Boots cake.  She was very excited about eating it and

 blew out the candles before we were done singing!

 Piper and Bryn at the kid table :)

 Opening presents - she got the hang of it quickly!

 She looked like Schroeder from Charlie Brown playing her piano!

Opening her new kitchen

 Definitely a hit with all the pots and pans, utensils, and food!

Thanksgiving in Michigan

We always go to Michigan for Thanksgiving, and this year we spent 10 days! 

 It was nice to get back to our house and Bryn got to see her Michigan friends

 and play with all of her toys that we leave up there.

Unfortunately I forgot my good camera in Florida, so you 

get to view high quality iPhone pictures!

She found a love for this doll furniture patio set that she can still fit into. 

She requested to eat her breakfast there and watch a video on the iPad.

It was too cute that I couldn't say no!

 Leaning back and relaxing!

Wednesday was nice enough that we went outside.  Bryn wanted to go to the beach and was very disappointed when her box of sand toys was not available.

 So we found a stick and picked rocks to throw in the rock pile.

 I had gotten a few deals at the end of the summer, but kept them hidden from Bryn.

So I wrapped one up for her to practice as her birthday was right around the corner.

 She got the idea of unwrapping and loved her "Makin' Mud Pie" kitchen.

Her dad, on the other hand, was ready for it to be outside next summer!

We bundled up for the Bad Axe Christmas parade on Saturday night.

Bryn was a good sport about the cold weather and very excited

 about letting us know that more lights were coming!

 Yep, the tractors are all decorated!

 My bundled up baby!

 And yes, I sent her out in the street to pick up candy!

We woke up on our last morning to snow!

I was so happy that Bryn could see and feel exactly what snow was.

Back at home after church

You call this....snow?!

How does it feel? 

 Mumma, my hands are cold!

Picture Perfect!

Festival of Trees

This past Saturday, we went on a girls day out (with Ryder).  Bryn, me, Nana, 'Me (Gammie), Aunt Alicia, Heather, Piper and Ryder all went to Orlando's Museum of Art to see the Festival of Trees.  The trees were decorated beautifully, and the kids were lucky that there were several areas for their entertainment!  

A local radio station had a cookie decorating table.

 There was a kid-size village with blocks to build with.

Jumping up and down in the gingerbread house was a hit!

 Bryn was very reluctant to meet Santa, but he was SO nice and luckily had

 the time to get her to warm up to him....

well, I don't know if that is excitement on her face, but 

she is sitting with him and answering his questions!

 Piper and Bryn admiring some dancers.

 A very cute tree decorated to be a snowman.

Cute cousins after getting their faces painted.